Jain Ramayana Part 2

Author(s): Bhadraguptasuri
Publisher: Vishvakalyan Prakashan Trust Mehsana

Page 28

16
JAIN RAMAYAN
reach a state of absolute perfection where we need not be separated from one another. There we need not at all part from one another. We can stay together for ever and for ever; and we can together enjoy endless and ineffable spiritual serenity and felicity. We should not be caught in the illusory and mesmeric meshes of mean, low and transient pleasures which are dependent on others. We should not be ensnared in the meshes of Moha (infatuation) and Maya (deception) forgetting the importance of our souls."
Vajrabahu's words which were serious, dignified, soft and sweet like nectar brought about a tremendous change in the atmosphere. The fires of attachment began to abate. The light of renunciation began to burn bright and radiant.
"Look here! Think of your past ranging over countless millenia. What pleasures are there which we have not e rienced in the past ? What have we not seen ? In other words, we have enjoyed to our heart's content all the pleasures of the world. We have seen the various aspects of life and its stupefying miracles. Yet we are not happy or satisfied. Our terrible thirst for sensual pleasures has not been quenched. Please remember that we can never attain contentment, in respect of physical delights and sensual pleasures. It is only renunciation that can give us the ultimate contentment; and it is only by means of renunciation that we can attain the supreme contentment".
At once, the hearts of all the princes and that of Udayasundar melted away. Why would they not be melted away? All of them had great affection for Vajrabahu and had the greatest respect for him. The myrtle-colour on the hands of Manorama whose extraordinary beauty would make even the Apsaras as (demi-goddesses) feel ashamed of their beauty, had not yet dried; the newly married bride had not yet stepped into the house of her husband but Vajrabahu renounced everything and was determined to travel on the sublime path of the Paramatn and if his words which were polite, sensible and were bathed in the sublime waters of renunciation captivated the hearts of all, there was no wonder in it.